NW Wines: Not Ready For Prime Time

[stevebody]

Have in fact been through the Willamette, as guest of many of the wineries there, and have tasted through their stuff. Same deal: they're making Wannabe Burgundy and therefore invite comparison. They don't compare well. There are nice wines in Oregon, especially the whites, but, once again, a $80 bottle of Brickhouse Pinot is, to me, overpriced. The Oregonians believe their own press and have started to price their wines at levels that are turning customers off. The same thing that happened to Leonetti last vintage - people turning down their subscription cases because of sticker shock - is happening to the high-end Oregon houses. I recently tasted through the entire vintage of Bouchard wines out of France. I don't really enjoy Pinot, compared to most other reds, but the variety and complexity of the reds was dazzling. I can't say the same for ANY of the Oregons I've tasted and I've tried the ones everybody raves about. As for WA bargain wines, I challenge anyone to sit down at a blind tasting of six of these things from Paul Thomas, Washington Hills, Silver Lake, any of our "value" wines and pick them out one from another or even to tell me what varietal they're tasting. I've talked this over with at least 20 other retailers and they've all agreed that we carry the wines because, under $10, they're simply all we have. Nobody professed to liking any of them. Consensus: Washington's mid-tier Cabs, to use an example, that retail for $35-$45 a bottle are comparable only to $20-ish bottles from Napa, Sonoma, and even an increasing number from Australia. The best Cab I tasted for under $40 in the '98 vintage was the Peter Lehmann Barossa Valley...that costs $18. One man's opinion but a lot of folks around Seattle share it.